Lifting door.



PATENTED MAR. 14, 1905 N. U. SGHOMMER. LIFTING DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29, 1904.

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PATENT ()E IcE.

LIFTING DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 784:,895, dated March 14, 1905.

ADUUW ttlml filed July 29,1904. Serial Nov 218,756.

To all whom, it warty concern.-

Beit known that I, NICHOLAS C. SoHoMMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of (look and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Lifting Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to doors consisting of two or more sections which are intended to be moved at difierent speeds, so that all the doorscctions when raised will lie adjacent to one another, thereby economizing space and facilitating the lifting operation.

The present invention more particularly relates to the method of supporting and moving the sections of the door simultaneously at different rates of speed, and the parts are so constructed that the sections can be moved at any suitable ratio with respect to one another by a very slight change of arrangement, adapting the device for use with doors consisting of any suitable number of sections. The same mechanism used for moving the door-sections at a ratio of, for instance, one to two, may with no change in principle be adapted to move the sections at a ratio of one to three or any other desired ratio.

Theinvention consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings illustrating the invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a two-part door in closed relation; Fig. 2, a similar view show' ing the sections partly raised, and Fig. 8 a diagrammatic edge view showing the relation of the chains and sprockets.

For the purpose of illustration a two-part door in which the sections are intended to be moved at a ratio of one to tWo has been shown; but it is to be understood that any other desired ratio of travel may be obtained and that the invention is not limited to doors having a ratio of one to two or any other stated ratio.

In the drawings, A represents the side wall of a building having an opening therethrough intended to he closed by the door of this invention. The door consists of an upper and outer section B and a lower and inner section (3, preferably of uniform size, the two sections being adapted to travel up and down in close proximity to one another. The two sections are adapted to be locked together by means of a latch or other locking mechanism 0, conveniently located on one of the sections.

On opposite sides of the door-sections and in close proximity thereto are located endless chains D and E, the former being connected, by means of a pin or other fastening device (Z, with the section C of the door and the latter being connected, by means of a pin a, to the section B of the door. Above the door when in locked position and on opposite sides thereof are arranged shafts F, suitably journaled and adapted to be rotated in any usual and well-known manner, and on said shafts are keyed two sprocket-wheels G and H, having, as shown, a ratio in size of two to one, the former of which may be designated as the large sprocket-wheel and the latter as the small sprocket-wheel. The large sprocketwheel carries the long endless chain D and the small sprocket-wheel the shorter endless chain E, so that as the shaft is rotated the endless chains will be moved by the sprocketwheels at a ratio of two to one or any other desired ratio, depending upon the relation between the large and small sprocket-wheels. The chain E passes around a sprocket-wheel I and the chain D around asprocket-wheel J, which are preferably of the same size as the motor sprocket-\vheels bearing, in the pres ent instance a ratio of one to two.

In order that the doors may be more easily manipulated, it is desirable to provide counterbalances K, which are preferably carried by the chain D on the upper section thereof, and the combined weight of said counterbalances in order to best perform their intended work should be one and one-half times the weight of one of the sections of the door, assuming the two sections to be of equal weight, for the reason that said weights must fully counterbalance the lower section, since both are connected to the same chain, but need only counterbalance one-half the weight of the upper section, since said section is operated by a sprocket bearing the relation of one to two to the sprocket which carries or moves the counterbalance-weights.

In use when the doors are in the closed position shown in Fig. 1 a single locking device will serve to prevent the movement of either of the sections, for the reason that neither of the sections can be moved without moving the other, so that it only becomes necessary to lock the sections to one another and no means for locking the sections to the door-frame is necessary. The doors can either be moved by raising one of the door-sections direct or by applying power to the shaft carrying the two sprocket-Wheels, which may be done in cases where the weight and size of the sections are such that manual manipulation will be difficult. It it is obvious that a larger number of door-sections can be operated from the same shaft by merely increasing the number of motor sprocket-wheels carried thereby and changing their ratio to one another, so that without departing in any Way from the principle and spirit of the invention a three, four, or live part door may be constructed and operated in precisely the same manner as the two-part door herein illustrated. Of course the proper ratio of the movement of the several door-sections must in all cases be properly determined, since it is desirable that when the door-sections are fully raised they should lie laterally adjacent to one an other in order to occupy a minimum amount of space and when in closed relation should be fully extended, the lower edge of one doorsection abutting against the upper edge of the next adjacent section. It Will be seen from the foregoing description that the door of the present invention is of extremely simple construction and at the same time the sections thereof are adapted to cooperate with one another when the door is being raised or lowered and to further cooperate with one another by the arrangement of locking device by which one of the sections prevents the movement of the others.

IV hat 1 regard as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In lifting doors, the combination of a plurality of vertically-movable sections adapt-- ed to move at different predetermined ratios with respect to one another, sprocket-wheels of different predetermined ratios, a shaft mounting the several sprocket-wheels, connections between the sprocket-wheels and the different door-sections and weights on the connections to counterbalance the sections, substantially as described.

2. In lifting doors, the combination of aplurality of vertically-movable sections,spr'ocketwheels of different predetermined ratios, one for each section, a common shaft upon which the sproeketwheels are mounted, endless chains passing around said sprocket-wheels, connections securing the chains to the different door-sections, cooperating sprocket-Wheels for returning the endless chains and weights on the endless chains for counterbalaneing the sections, substantially as described.

3. In lifting doors, the combination of aplurality of vertically-movable sections,sproel et wheels of different predetermined ratios, one for each section, a common shaft upon which the sprocket wheels are mounted, endless chains passing around said sprocket-wheels, connections securing the chains to the different door-sections, cooperati n g sprocket-wh eels for returning the endless chains, and counterbalances carried by the chains and having a predetermined ratio to the weight of the doorsections, substantially as described.

4;. In lifting doors, the combination of aplurality of sections, sprocket-wheels of different predetermined ratios, one for each section, a' shaft upon which said sprocketwheels are mounted, connections between the doors and the respective sprocket-wheels, and a locking mechanism for locking two sections of the door together to prevent the movement of either, substantially as described.

5. In lifting doors, the combination of a plurality of sections, wheels of different predetermined ratio, one for each section, a shaft to which said Wheels are fixedly secured, a connection for each of the door-sections passing over said wheels for adapting the sections to move at different predetermined ratios of speed, and a locking mechanism between two of the sections, substantially as described.

6. In lifting doors, the combination of aplurality of vertically-movable sections, wheels of different predetermined ratio, one for each section, a rotatable shaft on which all of the wheels are rigidly mounted, a connection for each of the sections passing over the wheel cooperating therewith, and counterbalances secured to one of the connections and having a weight of predetermii'ied ratio to the doorsections, substantially as described.

NIUIIOLAS (J. SOHOMMER.

\Vitnesses:

SAMUEL W. BANNING, \VALKER BANNING. 

